Personalized Hand Sanitizer & Soaps

In need of some great and extremely useful teacher gifts? Have a germ-a-phobic friend? or a friend with a new baby trying to keep germs away from well-wishers? Try making some Home Made Soap Bottles. I saw this idea about two years ago on a local television show and have made several as gifts since then.

Simply print your own personalized message or quote onto some transparency film using a laser printer. If you don’t have a laser printer, print it out with your ink jet printer and then copy it onto the transparency film. You can also take your paper and have the copy center copy it onto transparencies which is usually around $1. The reason it needs to be copied or printed from a laser printer is so the ink will no run and fall apart in the soap.

If you don’t want to come up with your own, I am providing you with the template I have used.

You may need to resize it according to the size of your bottles. Then personalize it by adding a name (etc.) to the top and underline it in a font of your choice and size. Crop to fit if needed. It should be 3 inches wide by 3.5 inches high for the hand soaps and 3 inches wide by 4 inches high for the sanitizer bottles I used.

I usually buy my soap from the dollar store, but there are also places who sell the empty soap bottle dispensers online.

Anyways, below is a tutorial, of sorts, to help you come up with the finished product.

Remove all stickers and labels from the bottles. I got my paper labels wet and they easily scraped off. To clean off any glue residue, I used Goof Off which I had bought earlier to remove a million stickers manufacturers had placed on our girls headboards. (Why do they do that??). If I remember right, I bought it at Home Depot.

Cut around your printed label as straight and as close as you can get to the writing so that it fits properly into your bottle. Check before you cut the bottom of the label to be sure that it will sit as high in the bottle as you would like to to.

Roll up the label so that the writing is in front. I roll mine backwards. Stuff it into the bottle carefully.

Use the soap dispenser to push the label to the front wall of the bottle and to straighten it in the right position.

And…There you go! Some practical and affordable gifts that are sure to please.

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About Amy

Amy Huntley is the owner/author of The Idea Room. A mother of five, who enjoys sharing her love of all things creative in hopes of inspiring other women and families. Never miss a creative idea that she shares by connecting with her here, or read more of her posts.

When you refill the bottle, simply push the label forward with something (the pump dispenser, a spoon handle, or a pencil, etc.). Fill the bottle with your soap or sanitizer. When mostly filled position label with same instrument to correct position and top off with soap. Voila!

Thank you so much for the instructions! I was wondering what the font you used for the names is? I love that font – so elegant and stately. I also tried to save and copy your template but it came out a bit blurry – do you have a word or publisher document rather than a picture? Thank you!

I've spent hours on your blog! I love your ideas and can't wait to make these bottles! Can you tell me where to find the link to download as a document? what I have is a picture and it prints out a bit blury and is hard to add text. Thanks so much!!!

I understand there have been a few of you having trouble with the download. Some are unable to enter their own text after downloading it, or it prints out very blurry. I am working on getting a clean fresh version for you to download. I will leave a comment with the new updated version when I get a chance to fix it. If any of you were able to make them on your own and would like to email me your version so I can make that available…that would be great as well! Thanks!

I have been wanting to make these since I first came across them on your blog last month (I am a new follower and love all of your ideas!). I was not able to add my own text or anything to the download, so I inserted a text box, added our name and then clicked on no border to the text box. It worked perfectly! Hope this helps everyone else.

LOVE all your ideas! Thanks so much for sharing this one. I've made a few for end of the year teacher gifts. I also wanted to let you know I posted a ling to your site from my blog posting. You can check it out at http://juliescraftcave.blogspot.com

I used your idea to make personalized soap dispensers for the bathrooms at my daughter's wedding reception. I created the Word document at home (their names, the date, and "from this day forward"…)and brought the file to Staples for printing on a transparency; very inexpensive. Of all the DIY parts of the wedding, THESE were the ones that drew the most attention and "How the heck did you do that" comments! Thank you for the idea!

I did exactly as said and the top line a couple letter have broken away from the transparency? it is right where the fluid was moving while I was tying a bow on it? has this happened to you before? I had office max put it on the transparency and asked if it was a laser printer…it isn't smearing just broken bit's. Am I doing something wrong? Love the idea I have a few friends going into teaching this year and I work at a bank so we use lot's sanitizer :D simple and great to give!

@Rachel–i actually did have that happen one time with one of mine. I think that some hand sanitizers have more alcohol than others. Or my guess is that the printing was not fully burned into your transparency. Have the others held up okay?

So cute! We did these almost a year ago and I have loved it, however, the words are starting to fall off the sheet, and it isn't so pretty anymore. Is there anything that you could seal the words on with?

@Jeanette–I have noticed this happen with some hand sanitizers. Some have more alcohol in them than others. Unfortunately, I don't have any other ideas on how to prevent this. Maybe using some more green choices of soap or hand sanitizers? Does any one else have any ideas on the solution to this?

I just found your site today, and I love it! I want to try everything I have seen here today! LOL! But I was reading the comments about the hand sanitizer, and I had a thought about the letters coming off. I wonder, if you were able to encase the lettering in something, if that would keep them in place. Maybe try covering it in clear contact paper. or even laminating it? Mind you, I have not tried this project yet, but I just thought this might work. ;-)

@Ouiser65–I have not made a Halloween version. It must have been another site you saw it on. Sorry I can't help you!

@Danbectyl–I am so glad you are enjoying the idea room. What a great idea!! It sure sounds like it would work. I would have never thought to do that. I am thinking that is the solution! Yay! Thanks so much!

I really love all your ideas. I am trying to do the soap bottles and am having a problem with the ink coming off, I tried copying it at work and that came off I bought a laser printer today and tried that and just a few minutes after being in the bottle the words started to run. Any idea of what I am doing wrong?? Thanks

Love this project! So many possibilities! I know this has been on your blog for awhile, but I'm going to link to it on my crafty linking party since it's too good not to share! would love to see you there too!

I know this would require a bit more work, but if you empty the bottle first, rinse it and let it dry, print the lettering backwards onto adhesive transparency (put the lettering in a text box and flip it). Then adhere the sticky side directly to the front of the bottle, that should prevent the deterioration of the lettering and alleviate filling issues.

I have downloaded the template, but it will not allow me to add the family name in…it is just a PDF that I cannot manipulate. Am I doing something wrong? I LOVE these and am dying to make them tonight with my kids!Thanks, Lesli

I have downloaded the template, but it will not allow me to add the family name in…it is just a PDF that I cannot manipulate. Am I doing something wrong? I LOVE these and am dying to make them tonight with my kids!Thanks, Lesli

I have downloaded the template, but it will not allow me to add the family name in…it is just a PDF that I cannot manipulate. Am I doing something wrong? I LOVE these and am dying to make them tonight with my kids!Thanks, Lesli

I have downloaded the template, but it will not allow me to add the family name in…it is just a PDF that I cannot manipulate. Am I doing something wrong? I LOVE these and am dying to make them tonight with my kids!Thanks, Lesli

I have downloaded the template, but it will not allow me to add the family name in…it is just a PDF that I cannot manipulate. Am I doing something wrong? I LOVE these and am dying to make them tonight with my kids!Thanks, Lesli

This was such a great idea! I wanted to do it for teacher gifts last year when I first saw your post but never got around to it. I did it this year though, and they turned out great!! Here is my blog post about them with a link back to your post:

I had trouble with that Goof Off stuff though. If you read the fine print, it actually says not to use it on plastic. It made the plastic sort of rough or something. I would try Goo Gone or just soap and water.

Love that somebody used this idea for bathrooms at a wedding! That is awesome!!!

Regular olive or vegetable oil takes off almost all glue residue from jars and bottles. Just pour some on, and rub at the glue with your fingers for a minute or two and it all comes off! Plus it’s something we all have around the house, and it’s cheap!

Thank you for sharing this, I shared it as a gift idea on my online bible study, we need gifts that dont cost alot! Great Job! I also shared it on my blog and added a link back to you guys! Hope I did it right Im new to this stuff! Be blessed and have a Merry Christmas!

Love! I'm making these for my son's teachers for Valentines day and another one for our bathroom. I just bought the Pottery Barn "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" shower curtain, but they had not bath accessories. I cut and pasted on of Dr. Seuss's fish and added a quote from the book. Voila! :)

I love this idea. I’ve been trying to finish these for end of the year gifts but I can’t seem to get the sticker residue from the bottle. I am using goof off but nothing seems to work. any tips? I tried using a cotton ball, paper towel, towel, and a sponge. The stickiness is gone but there is a cloudy look, kind of foggy appearance. any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

Hi! I love this idea and made them for a Children’s Ministry Appreciation Tea. But I’m having troubles with the transparency film staying in place. It floats to the bottom of the bottles. I purchased the soft soaps ~ 7.5 oz that have a circle in it in the body. I did exactly what you described. Do you have any tips on what to do to keep them in place?

Hello! I cannot download the template! Scribd says I must be a Premium Reader at $9.00 a month to download! :( Is there some other place I may download this template without forking out so much money? I Love this idea! can’t wait to try it! :) Thank you in advance, Kim

Hey Kim! I just looked at that and have since taken it off Scribd. I didn’t realize they were charging now. I have uploaded it to Google Docs so you should now be able to get it that way. I don’t want anyone to have to pay for it. Let me know if you have any more trouble and I can just email it to you. Thanks for letting me know!

Me, being the cheapo I am, want to make 2 points. You can MAKE goo gone much cheaper than buying it. Look at Pinterest, there are a lot of recipes, but I love the 1 part coconut oil to 1 part baking soda. That seems to work best for me. Secondly, germophobic people are doing themselves a disservice. We NEED some bacteria in our gut. We just need it. But, I understand that teachers, especially, need hand sanitizer, especially in the lower grades. This is a terrific idea. Just terrific!

I can download your script for the sanitizer bottle, but cannot add a personal name. I scrolled through the other comments and saw that others have had a similar problem. I also saw a post from you saying your were working on another download that might alleviate these problems. Has that been completed, and, if so, where is it posted on your blog? This is such a great idea and I would be sad to leave it uncompleted. Hope you can reply!

[…] also bought some bottles of hand sanitizer for each teacher. I saw the idea for this at The Idea Room and thought they would be practical yet meaningful. The instructions said to print the labels on […]

[…] The first batch we made included the two fragrances, poppy seeds for an exfoliant and orange rind for an extra natural scent. However, I thought it was a little much for 4-year-olds so we wrapped them up and gave those to her teachers and took it down a notch for the kiddos. The girls received the orange jasmine soap with pink soap colorant swirled on one side with a tooth pick and the boys received the same but with green colorant. The soaps were packaged in Valentine’s bags with a tag that says (idea came from here): […]

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